Flax-breaking machine.



No. 794.284. PATENTED JULY 1l, I905. G. H. ELLIS.

FLAX BREAKING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED DB0. 21. 1904.

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No. 794,284. PATENTED JULY 11, 1905. G. E. ELLIS.

ELAX BREAKING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED DBO. 21,*1904y 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

"@eoyeETZ//f UNiTnn STATES Patented July 11, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE H. ELLIS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO INTERNATIONALHARVESTER COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

FLAX-BREAKING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 794,284, dated July 11,19,05.

Application filed December 21,1904. Serial No. 237,771.

To rif/ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE H. ELLIS, a citi- Zen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Flax-Breaking Machines, ofwhich the following' is a complete specification.

This invention relates to rotaryflax-brakes, and may be regarded as animprovement on the machine shown and described in Patent No. 738,893,which issued to me September l5, 1903. Heretofore in the operation ofthis type of flaxbrakes difliculty has been encountered, owing to thefact that the grooves in the concaves would become clogged with shives,which would thus interfere with the operation of the machine and alsoimpair the efficiency thereof. Further difficulty was met arising fromthe fact that in the construction heretofore employed that portion ofthe liber which came within the grip of the chains would not be fullycleaned, because the breaking devices could not operate suliciently andefliciently near the grasping-chain. The ber also manifested aninclination to stick to the chain at the delivery end thereof.

The improvements which I have designed to overcome the above-mentioneddifliculties reside chiefly in the special arrangement of the concavesin their relation with respect to the cooperating breaking-rollers, inthe doffers at the rear end of the grasping and conveying chain, in themeans for preserving a uniform rotation of the breaking-rollers andinsuring a proper mesh thereof with the concaves, and in the peculiarconstruction of the guide rails or slides, which cooperates with thcgrasping and conveying chains.

Further subordinate improvements have also been embodied in the generalconstruction of the machine, which will appear in the disclosure of thisinvention.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure A1 represents a plan view of theflax-breaking machine, the feeding device on the feeding end and thereceiving mechanism at the delivery end not being shown, as they are notmaterial to the improvements herein set forth. Fig. 2 is a correspondingside elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is an enlarged transverse sec- 50tion of the machine, taken as indicated by the line 3 3 in Fig. l. Fig.4 is a fragmentary longitudinally vertical section taken at the deliveryend of the machine as indicated by the line 4E t in Eig. l, the Viewbeing designed to 55 show the construction of the dofiers, whichdisengage the fiber from the grasping-chain; and Fig. 5 is a transversesection through the rear grasping-chain and the adjacent forward chain,the section being taken as indicated by the line 5 5 in Fig. l. Thisview is designed to illustrate the construction of the shields or guideswhich deflect the liber properly in passing from one feeding-chain tothe other and from a scutcher to a breaker on one side and 5 5 thereverse on the other. This view also illustrates the manner in which thefiber is held firmly grasped in one chain until the succeeding one hassecurelyT engaged it.

In the drawings, l designates the angleirons forming the longitudinalsills of the main frame, two of these angle-irons being oppositelyplaced to each other with their opposing legs extending inwardly.Between these angle-irons are secured the cross-sills 2, which consist,preferably, of I-beams having a portion of one of the flanges turneddown at the ends, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. The legs or supports of theframe are designated by the numeral 3, the lower portion of these legsbeing cut away.

4 designates a series of arches placed transversely across the top ofthe main frame. These arches and -beams render the frame very rigid andform bearings for some of the 35 moving parts of the machine.

In the cross-sills 2 are journaled in the bearings 5/ and 6 thebreaking-roller shafts 5 and 6, respectively. These shafts extendlongitudinally of the frame of the machine, and on the shaft 5 arerigidly mounted the two opposing breaking-rollerheads7. (See Eig.

. These breaking-roller heads are provided with the four evenly-disposedradially-extending slots 7', within which are placed the sliding' 95boxes 8. These sliding boxes are held outwardly or from the center bymeans of the coil-springs 9 and in said boxes journal the utedbreaking-rollers 10, the said springs holding the rollers outwardly andpermitting them to yield inwardly against excessive pressure. For a moredetailed description of the members involved in the construction ofthese breaking-rollers and associated parts reference may be had to thepatent above cited. The shaft 5 is located on the righthand side of themachine, and since the said breaking-rollers mounted thereon aresituated near the delivery end of the machine the said shaft necessarilyextends almost the entire length thereof. To the shaft 6 on the lefthandside of the machine are secured similar breaking-roller heads 7, inwhich are mounted another set of breaking-rollers 10, as shown in Figs.1 and 2. These shafts 5 and 6 are driven by suitable bevel-gearconnection (see Fig. 1) from the main driving-shaft 11, which extendstransversely of the machine near the front or feeding end thereof. Poweris communicated to this shaft 11 through the belt 12, which is adaptedto engage either the fixed pulley 13 or the loose pulley 14 on saidshaft. This arrangement' of the sets of revolving breaking-rollersresults in having one set on each side of the central longitudinal lineof the machine. A fluted concave 21 is placed directly above the shaft5, this concave lcorresponding in pitch of teeth with thebreaking-rollers 10, as does the corresponding element in the patentbefore mentioned. A similarly constructed and arranged concave 21 alsocooperates with the set of breaking-rollers mounted on the shaft 6. Theconcave 2l is supported by two adjacent arches 4, as shown in Figs. 1and 3.

To make the movement of the breakingrollers 10 in relation to theircooperating concave positive, a planetary movement is im-4 parted tosaid rollers by means of the stationary annular gears 22, which meshwith the pinion 10 on the projecting shaft of the rollers, as can beseen in Figs. 1 and 2. Experience has demonstrated that the slightclearance necessary in gearing is sufficient to cause thebreaking-rollers 10 to lag suficiently to cause them to slightlyinterfere with the fiutes or teeth of the concave when first coming intomesh therewith. To overcome this difficulty, the extension 23 isprovided to operate as a continuation of the uted concaves 21 on itsoutside, while on the inner side the extension 24 amounts to projectingthe concave that amount farther down. These said extensions 23 and 24are comparatively narrow, the width relative to the length of thebreaking-roller being shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The pitch of the extension23 is the same as that'of the pitch of the teeth of the concave, whilethe pitch of the extension 24 is slightl y less, which will operate tospeed up the breaking-rollers sufficiently to prevent any knocking orjarring when they come in contact or into mesh with the said concaves.

Arranged substantially in a central longitudinal position with respectto the frame of the machine is the grasping and conveying chain, whichis composed of the feeding-end loop 15 and the delivery-end loop 16. Thefirst loop 15 is supported upon and driven by suitable sprocket-wheels17, which are rigidly secured to shafts journaled in suitable bearings.The sprocket-wheels 17, carrying the feeding-end loop 15, are mountedupon the shafts 18 and 18', while the sprocket-wheels, supporting anddriving the delivery-end loop, are mounted upon the shafts 19 and 19.These shafts 18 and 18 and 19 and 19 journal in suitable bearingsmounted on the main frame. The delivery-end loop 16 is driven from theshaft 19, while the loop 15 is driven by the shaft 18', thus pullingdirectly on the lower or engaging part of the chain. shaft 18' isconnected with and driven from the shaft 19 by means of thesprocket-chain 20. Placedv beneath the loops 15 and 16 of thegrasping-chain and coperating therewith are the slides 25 and 26,respectively. These slides are provided with a rounded surface on theupper edge thereof, which fits within a corresponding recess on thecontacting side of the links of the chain, as shown in detail in' Figs.3, 4, and 5. The flax-straw in process of breaking is held substantiallymidway of its length between the chain and slide, and to enable thebreaking-rollers and concave to engage the straw at a point immediatelyadjacent to said chain and slide the guides are deflected away from thebreaking-rollers and form, in effect, a continuation of the walls of theconcave. The inner concave extension 24 is secured, preferably, to theguide-plate 26, as shown in Fig. 3. Secured to the slide or guideplate26 is the scutcher-concave 26, comform- `ing in curvature to the path oftravel of the outer margins of the scutcher-blades 27 the functions ofsaid concave being to hold the end of the straw or fiber in a positionto be operated upon by the said scutcher-blades. A similarscutcher-concave (not shown) is secured to the other slide orguide-plate 25.

The deflection of the lower portion of the` slide not only enables thebreaking-rollers to effect a close engagement with the straw, but alsoaids in supporting the free end thereof.

Placed in opposition to each set of breaking-rollers is a scutcher-drum27, provided with the scutcher-blades 27. The drum of the scutcher onthe delivery end of the machine is mounted upon` the shaft 272, whichshaft journals in suitable bearings secured to the twoadjacent arches 4.Movement is imparted to the scutchers through suitable gear connectionwith the shaft 28, this shaft being Ioo driven by a band-wheel 29, whichcontacts thev belt 30. The belt 30 engages and is driven from the pulley31, which is secured to the main driving-shaft '11, the other end ofsaid i belt engaging the pulley 32, journaled on the stub-shaft 33,located near the driving-shaft 19 of the graspingchain. To secure theproper degree of tension in the belt 30, the idler-pulley 51, mounted onthe lever 52, is made to bear against the said belt, the lever beingheld in proper relation with respect to its support 53 by any suitablemeans. rI`he pinion 33 on said stub-shaft imparts movement at reducedvelocity to the shaft 19/ through the gear 34. Motion is imparted to thescutcher-drum 27 at the feeding end of the machine by means of thecross-shaft 35, this cross-shaft being connected by suitable gearing' tothe shaft of the said drum. The crossshaft 35 has secured to its outerend a bandwheel 36, about which passes the belt 37, the forward end ofthis belt engaging and being driven by the pulley 38 on the outer end ofthe main driving-shaft 11.

The shields 39 are located between the center arches 4 and operate toproperly guide the flax-straw upward from the scutcher-drum to thebreaking-rollers and cooperating concave on the right-hand side of themachine and downward from the breaking-roller and concave to thescutcher on the left-hand side of the machine. tion in Fig. 5, and froman inspection of Fig. 3 their necessity is apparent, because of the factthat the plane in which the breaking-rollers and concave operate uponthe flax-straw is considerably higher than the plane in which thescutcher-blades act upon the free end of the iiaX-straw. In Fig. 1 theshields are shown partly broken away and in Fig. 2 are shown entirelyremoved, that the mechanism at thispart of the machine may be moreclearly disclosed.

In order to remove the flax fiber from the grasping and conveying chainat the delivery end of the machine, the following-described doflingmeans are employed: vA crank-shaft 40, journaled in suitable bearings onthe frame of the machine, is driven by means of the sprocket-chain 41,which connects with the .sprocket-wheel on the driving-shaft 2.8 of therear scutcher-drum. This kcrank-shaft 40 is provided with cranksarranged on either side of the plane of the grasping-chain and betweenthe upper and lower runs thereof, as shown in Figs. 2 and 4. The innerend of this crank-shaft is supported in a bearing 40, which in turn issecured to the longitudinally-extending' beam 42 on the frame of themachine. On the front or right-hand side of the chain 16 twooppositely-disposed cranks 402 are formed in said shaft 40, while on theother sideA of the chain only onecrank 4()3 is formed. In the wrists ofthese cranks are journaled the brackets 43, (see Fig. 4,) the bracketsbeing of suflicient length so as to permit the dofferplates 44 tooperate in a plane near the bottom of the grasping-chain. The rear endof `to adhere to the chain.

These shields are shown in sec-v neet with the said plates at theirlower end and with the loosely-sleeved collars 46, which vjournal on theshaft 19 at their upper end.

These collars 46 are prevented from endwise movement by means of thefixed collars 47. Teeth consisting of triangular-shaped cleats 44 aresecured to the under side of the dofferplates 44. It is manifest thatwhen rotation is given to the crank-shaft 4() these dolfcrplates will begiven a combined rotary and reciprocating movement and will be made tomove across the path of the fiber as it is being delivered from betweenthe lower run of the chain 16 and the slide 26, thus forcibly removingany of the fiber that shows an inclination lVithout such' provision anattendant would be required to disengage the fiber and prevent it frombeing tangled up'in the chain. y

To hold the contacting sides of the loops 15 and 16 of thegrasping-chain in contact with their respective slides 25 and 26 with adegree of pressure sufficient to prevent the straws being pulledtherefrom bythe scutchingblades or breaking-rollers, rollers 48, mountedon yielding bearings 49, are employed to press against the upper side ofthe chain, as shown in Figs. 2 and 4. In Fig. 2 only a small spaceappears in which the rollers can be seen from the side view, and in thedetail shown in Fig. 4 only one set of such rollers is shown, as theothers are merely duplicates of this. The general arrangement of thesechains and rollers in this machine and also the means by which theproper degree of tension is secured in the grasping-chain, as well asthe pressure between the contacting portion of the chain and itscooperating part,

-whether it be another chain or a stationary slide, and other minordetails not material to this invention are fully shown in Patent No.738,783, granted to me September 15, 1903, and also the patent to whichreference has already been made.

The flax-straw may be presented to themachine by any suitable feedingdevice, but preferably by such a mechanism as shown and claimed inapplication, Serial No. 228,494, filed by me October 15, 1904, andentitled Feeding mechanism for flax-brakes. The numeral 50 in Figs. 1and 2 designates the feed-wheel of such mechanism.

As there is practically no departure in the method of operating thismachine over the machine disclosed in Patent No. 738,893, alreadymentioned, it is believed that a detailed description thereof isunnecessary. Furthermore, the function and operation of the new featuresof this invention are apparent from a description of the constructionthereof.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is*- 1. In a'iiaX-breaking machine, incombination, a set of yieldingly-mounted breaking- IOO IIO

rollers, a concave located above said breaking rollers and coperatingtherewith, a Scutcher-drum and means for conveying the straw laterallyof its length and longitudinally of said breaking-rollers and scutcher,said means consisting' of a grasping and conveying chain operating aboveand a slide located beneath and coacting with said chain, said slidebeing deflected away from the breaking-rollers at its lower side,substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. In a flax-breaking machine, in combination, a machine-frame, graspingand conveying chains located centrally and longitudinally thereof, setsof revolving breaking-rollers situated at each end of the machine-frameand on opposite sides of said chains, a concave located above each setand cooperating therewith, scutcher-drums opposed to each set ofbreaking-rollers and located on the opposite sides of said chains withrespect thereto, and shields or guides to direct the liow of straw andliber from the scutcher to the breakingroller and concave on one side ofthe chains and from the breaking-rollers and concave to the scutcher onthe other side of said chains, substantially as and for the purposespecied.

3. In a flax-breaking machine, in combination, a machine-frame,grasping-chains located centrally and longitudinally thereof, sets ofrevolving breaking-rollers situated at each end of the machine-frame andon opposite sid es of said chains, a concave located above each set andcooperating therewith, scutcherdrums opposed to each set ofbreaking-rollers and located on the opposite sides of said chains withrespect thereto, an upwardly-extending shield or guide for directing theliow of straw and fiber from the scutcher on the right-hand side of thechains to the set of breaking-rollers and coacting concaves on the sameside of said chains, and a downward-projecting shield or guide fordirecting the flow of straw and fiber from the breaking-rollers andcoacting concave on the left-hand side of the chains to the.

scutcher on the same side of said chains, substantially as and for thepurpose specified.

4. In a flax-breaking machine, in combination, a machine-frame, agrasping and conveying chain located centrally and longitudinallythereof, breaking and scutching devices located adjacent to said chain,and reciprocating doifers located at the delivery end of said chain andon either side thereof, substantially as described.

5. In a flax-'breaking machine, in combination, a machine-frame, agrasping and conveying chain located centrally and longitudinallythereof, breaking and scutching devices located adjacent to said chain,and doffers located at the delivery end of said chain and on either sidethereof, said doifers consisting of toothed plates, the forward ends ofwhich are supported and driven by suitable crank-motion, while the rearends are supported by links, substantially as described.

6. In a flax-breaking machine, in combination, a set ofyieldingly-mounted toothed breaking-rollers, means for imparting arotary movement thereto, a concave located above and cooperating withsaid breaking-rollers, extensions to said concaves secured to the frontand rear sides thereof, the said eXtension which is secured to the rearside having teeth of a pitch corresponding with the pitch of theconcaves, and the extension on the front side thereof being providedwith teeth having a pitch slightly less than the pitch of the teeth ofthe concaves, and means for conveying the straw laterally of its lengthand longitudinally of the breaking-rollers and concave and in anoperative relation with respect thereto, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEORGE H. Ennis.

Vitnesses:

P. H. SHEA, J. C. WARNES.

